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Double or nothing Western Australia Licensing Laws

By Alborz Fallah |

Having only had one point on my license for some 12 months is a scary feeling – the cops can get you for anything, my list of fines so far include the obvious speeding tickets, to careless driving and even an unbelievable fine for “undue noise” – apart from the speeding tickets (If you haven’t got a speeding ticket yet, your driving the wrong car) the other fines I would have loved to contest had I the money or time.

So living on 1 point is very scary indeed, but whats worse? Losing your license. WA have introduced a new which allows those who lose their license to opt out for a new good behaviour license, which in otherwords means you get one point for 12 months, but if you screw up, they take your license away for twice as long as they were going to in the first place.

“If the original licence suspension was for three months, then with the ‘double or nothing’ legislation, a driver would be suspended from our roads for six months,” said Assisting Planning and Infrastructure Minister Tony McRae.

Mr McRae says that studies have shown that the introduction of similar legislation in other states have shown 70 per cent of drivers who accept a second chance change their behaviour to become better, safer drivers. Being one of those 70% drivers who managed to last on one point (literally by a matter of days) I am glad to see this law introduced in more states. No longer will WA drivers need to take the matter to court to maintain a license.

Drivers who lose their licences but wish to go on the new system (‘double or nothing’) can do so without hiring a lawyer or attending court. Police Minister John Kobelke said the scheme was worth a trial as it may  make WA roads safer and stop disqualified drivers from getting back behind the wheel.

“You have a situation where a number of people lose their licences and then they apply for extraordinary licences, so they’re back on the road through that procedure,” he said.

Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said police were always looking for new ways to cut the road toll.

“My understanding is research shows it’s been effective, but time will tell,” he said.

Before I go into my police bashing rampage, I will WA some credit as this system is long over due. However, I can never emphasis the need for new types of ‘fines’ to stop bad drivers. Speed cameras dont save lives. Don’t believe a word of it, research in the UK, America and many other European countries has shown over and over again that if anything, speed cameras increase the risk of accidents as drivers spend more time concentrating on their speedo than the road!


 
  • Jared

    Looks like I will be taking this “double or nothing” option soon. When this is finished do my points go back to zero or do they just take off the points for the infringement that put me over 12 points?

  • KIARA

    my boyfriend is on the double or nothing option for the second time if he looses any points this time round does that mean a jail sentence ?

  • jacqui

    i would like to make a suggestion on the driving and also the points here in w.a
    i feel that even though they have this system in place i can see easily why so many people are caught without a license. i think that the period that the 12 points has to last is way too long basically because on some of the situations you can lose 4 points at once. also when the double demerits come into play again you can lose 8 points in one hit for this reason so many people who do lose their license then and have jobs have been then stuck with having to struggle threw 3 years before they can get their licenses..
    My option Lower the points Lower the years. example
    make it 12 months with 3 points if you lose 3 points you have to wait 12 months for your licence back, this way i think a lot more people will not be caught driving without licenses hense less people in jail.
    i know it means that some of the fines would have to be dropped from 3 points to less if this was to work but honestly the 3 years is way too long.
    i have a son that has just got a job working on the mines, he is doing really well but over the last 2 years he has accumulated 12 points and now that he has added a fine onto his time to pay from 2 years ago it now puts him into 13 points, he cannot afford to lose his license so has to do the double or nothing which means he has to now go 12 months with not one fine and let me tell you the police arent shy in pulling people up for no reason. if this was to happen to my son for any slight thing he would then lose his license for six months and hense his job…plz look at the situation to make it fair for everyone .. 3 years is too long ..